BY ED HUNGNESS
Local Columnist
November 19, 2007 04:00 am Just about everyone has special memories of holidays from childhood. I feel blessed to have vivid memories of those good old days. My family enjoyed most of their Thanksgiving dinners at our old home in central Illinois. It was a day that we looked forward to with great anticipation. The preparation of the meal began several days before Thanksgiving with the baking of pies for dessert. It took a great deal of self-control not to sneak a slice of pie early. I must admit that on occasion a piece of crust might have "broken off" and I certainly couldn't let it go to waste. The night before our Thanksgiving feast, I was allowed to help by tearing up the bread for the stuffing. Remember when you didn't buy stuffing in a bag or box? It was torn into pieces and allowed to sit out on the counter all night so that the bread would dry up a bit. We placed it in a big bowl covered with a dish towel to keep out any unwanted guests. On Thanksgiving morning, we would wake up to the smell of the turkey neck and giblets being simmered on the stove. The resulting broth was used to moisten the dressing and make wonderful homemade gravy. The dressing ingredients in our family recipe consisted of bread, chopped onion and celery, along with browned pork sausage that we seasoned with salt, pepper and sage. After we stuffed the bird, any leftover dressing was put into a baking dish to be finished in the oven. We needed lots of stuffing! Our Thanksgiving feast wouldn't have been complete without cranberries, sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes, corn and the ever-present green bean casserole. Are you getting hungry yet? The star of the show was the turkey, of course. It was always a fresh turkey, because that's the only way they came. The refrigerators back then didn't have much of a freezer. About all you could get in it were an ice cube tray and a quart of ice cream. The turkey was purchased just days before the meal and sometimes stored outside. After the bird was prepared to go in the oven, it was placed in my grandmother's old Wear-Ever aluminum turkey roaster. That old pan has been passed down a few generations and is now one of my prized possessions. The rest of the morning and afternoon seemed to pass slowly as we anxiously waited for Mom to ring the dinner bell. The aromas that came from the old kitchen drove us all crazy with anticipation. I hope that you also have special memories of Thanksgivings past. It's truly a time to be grateful for all of God's blessings while we remember those who can't be with us and pray for the safe homecoming of our soldiers who are overseas fighting for our freedom. Happy Thanksgiving! Ed Hungness, of Fife Lake, can be reached at edhungness@yahoo.com or care of the Record-Eagle.
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